"Once called 'raceless' literature—and traditionally little acknowledged in the African American literary tradition—works with white protagonists written by black authors have begun to receive the recognition they deserve. Charles builds on this burgeoning scholarship, challenging the essentialist notion that black writers must limit themselves to the subject of black life and that those writers who abandon this subject lack racial pride. Charles makes a convincing case that white-life novels allow black authors to express themselves beyond the limitations of race and that black writers can provide a unique perspective on whiteness. A cogent, clearly written work. Recommended."
~Choice
"With Abandoning the Black Hero John C. Charles has written a brilliantly insightful and highly accessible analysis of the white-life novel, a long-neglected area of African American literature."
~Elisabeth Petry, author of At Home Inside: A Daughter's Tribute to Ann Petry
"Taps into long-cemented ideas about what is expected of African American writers in terms of affinity and subject matter … [Charles] locates the African American desire to fictionalize whiteness at a moment when middle-class domestic life was becoming a mainstream ideal at the same time that the demise of Jim Crow amid antisegregation successes jeopardized that new enclave of consolidated whiteness."
~American Literary History
"Engaging central discussions in the field of African American literary study, Abandoning the Black Hero is the most astute and comprehensive discussion of the white-life novel, to date."
~Kenneth W. Warren, author of What Was African American Literature?
"An amazing study...[offering] insightful, provocative, and novel analyses of often ignored African-American literary works. Charles' sharp investigatory eye makes Abandoning the Black Hero a must-read for all literary scholars and students."
~The Griot: The Journal of African American Studies
